CIA chief Pompeo held secret meeting with Kim

Mike Pompeo met with Kim Jong Un in North Korea last week. Meeting went very smoothly... Denuclearisation will be a great thing for the world. — Donald Trump tweeted channel that runs between the CIA and its

Palm Beach, United States, April 18: CIA director and secretary of state nominee Mike Pompeo reportedly visited North Korea earlier this month and met with President Kim Jong- un in what is believed to be the highestlevel meeting between the two countries in nearly two decades.

The meeting “went very smoothly,” President Donald Trump said on Wednesday.

“A good relationship was formed,” Mr Trump said, adding that the direct contact with North Korea — a rare step for the US — had his “blessing” and was intended to work out details of a possible Trump- Kim summit.

Mr Pompeo was in North Korea over Easter weekend to lay the groundwork for potential talks between Mr Kim and Mr Trump, the Washington Post reported.

The US has been communicating with North Korean representatives through a diplomatic North Korean counterpart, the Reconnaissance General Bureau, according to the New York Times.

US media reported that Mr Pompeo made the trip shortly after being named Mr Trump’s pick to replace Rex Tillerson as secretary of state.

“Mike Pompeo met with Kim Jong Un in North Korea last week. Meeting went very smoothly and a good relationship was formed. Details of summit are being worked out now. Denuclearization will be a great thing for World, but also for North Korea!” Mr Trump tweeted.

Raising expectations for a major breakthrough at a series of upcoming summits, Mr Trump said “a great chance to solve a world problem” was within reach.

“People don’t realise the Korean War has not ended. It’s going on right now. And they are discussing an end to the war,” he said.

Washington, April 18: CIA director Mike Pompeo recently travelled to North Korea to meet with leader Kim Jong- un, a highly unusual, secret visit undertaken as the enemy nations prepared for a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Kim within the next few months.

Two officials confirmed the trip on Tuesday. The officials were not authorised to discuss the visit publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Washington Post, which first reported Pompeo’s meeting with Kim, said it took place over Easter weekend just over two weeks ago, shortly after the CIA chief was nominated to become secretary of state.

Trump, who was hosting Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at his Florida estate, said the US and North Korea were holding direct talks at “extremely high levels” in preparation for a possible summit with Kim. He said five locations were under consideration for the meeting, which was slated to take place by early June.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump and Kim had not spoken directly. Kim’s offer for a summit was initially conveyed to Trump by South Korea in March, and the president shocked many by accepting it. US officials indicated over the past two weeks that North Korea’s government had communicated directly with Washington that it was ready to discuss its nuclear weapons programme.

It would be the firstever summit between the US and North Korea during more than six decades of hostility since the Korean War. North Korea’s nuclear weapons and its capability to deliver them by ballistic missile pose a growing threat to the US mainland.

President Trump confirmed that his CIA director met with Kim Jong Un in North Korea “last week” in anticipation of their potential summit. He tweeted that Mike Pompeo’s meeting “went very smoothly and a good relationship was formed.” The President said summit details are being worked out and that “Denuclearisation will be a great thing for World, but also for North Korea!”

Trump said on Tuesday that talks between the US and North Korea were underway at an “extremely high level.” Tokyo, April 18: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appears to be trying out a new tactic to boost the image of his authoritarian regime — he’s putting the spotlight on the women in his life.

Over the past few months, Kim has increasingly shared the stage with his younger sister, who became an instant celebrity as his envoy to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, and his wife, a former singer in her late 20s. For sure, there is only one star of the show in North Korea, and that is Kim. But the greater public role for Kim Yo Jong, his sister, and Ri Sol Ju, his wife, comes as Kim is embarking on a “charm offensive” — a series of summits and diplomatic moves that have significantly raised his international profile.

The timing suggests he’s hoping to change the optics of his regime, if not its iron- fisted domestic policies, by presenting a softer face to the outside world. The new look may be on display again later in April, when Kim is to sit down for his first summit with South Korean President Moon Jae- in. South Korean media suggest Kim is planning to bring his wife to the April 27 meeting in the Demilitarised Zone that divides the two nations.